With the remarkable growth of digital technologies, a variety of user devices such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an electronic organizer, a smart phone, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), or the like, which allow for communication and data processing in mobile environments, have become increasingly popular. Such user devices have outgrown their respective traditional fields and have reached a convergence stage. For example, user devices may offer many helpful functions, including a voice/video call function, a message transmission function, such as a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia Message Service (MMS), an email, a navigation function, a digital camera function, a broadcast receiving function, a media (including video and music) playback function, an internet access function, a messenger function, a Social Networking Service (SNS) function, or the like.
Various techniques of recording a personal life as digital information (e.g., a “life-log”) have been recently developed, which have aroused interest in a context awareness service. Normally, a context awareness service determines the content of a service and whether to provide a service, depending on a variation in context defined by a service object (e.g., a user). Context refers to information used to determine a particular service action defined by a service object, and may include a time to provide a service, whether to provide a service, a target for a service, a location to provide a service, and the like.
A typical context awareness service installs various sensor units on the basis of a domain in order to collect personal information. For example, a context awareness system of the related art may be composed of a user device that obtains data from sensors, and a server that extracts context from data obtained by the user device, may analyze the extracted data, and may execute a suitable service for context. Therefore, to support a context awareness service, such a system may require a user device to have various sensors and also may need interaction between a user device and a server. Unfortunately, this may invite difficulty in realizing a cost-effective and well-constructed system.
Additionally, a context awareness service of the related art may require a user to execute a separate program and perform a complicated setting procedure. This may cause poor accessibility for users. Further, a usage scenario of a typical context awareness service may depend on a command defined in a user device. However, since only a user of the user device can know this command, any context associated with external event may not be treated properly.
A headset which is connectible to a user device has also become popular. In a case in which a user listens to audio through a headset, he or she may not easily perceive external sounds. For this reason, a user should take off a headset or directly manipulate a running application.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and device which allows a user device to recognize an external context and to give feedback to a user even while a user wears a headset.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.